Pharmacy Daily | AI leads new era in health

AN "AI explosion" is sweeping Australia's healthcare sector, signalling the arrival of an "extraordinary era of medicine", according to a new report from CSIRO.

The AI Trends for Healthcare report explores the many opportunities, along with the barriers, surrounding the integration of AI in Australia's healthcare sector.

Dr David Hansen, Research Director of CSIRO's Australian e-Health Research Centre (AEHRC), said AI poses unique challenges for the healthcare sector, given the accuracy of models could mean the different between life or death, or ongoing health or illness.

"A key difference between the use of AI in healthcare compared to other industries is the use of AI in decision making for prevention, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment," Dr Hansen said.

"As we strive to create newer and better digital tools to harness the benefits of AI in healthcare, frameworks and ethical implementation along with established safety, quality and monitoring guidelines continue to be imperative."

The report also highlights the rapid digitalisation of Australia's hospital records system, and how this is the likely platform for implementing AI technologies, particularly when it comes to imaging, diagnosis and treatment, as well as tasks such as reconciliation of reports or analysis of clinical data.

"There is more health and medical data out there than ever before, so data privacy and security are a growing challenge," Dr Hansen added.

"AI can play an important role in allowing Australians to have full access to and control over their health data."

The integration of AI in healthcare has the potential to dramatically enhance the work lives of medical professions, as well as the health and wellbeing of consumers, the report suggests.

The 48-page document also identifties other sectors, including aged care and disability, as also being able to benefit significantly from AI - to read the full report, click here. JM